#SJYALit, Social Justice in YA Lit – The 2017 TLT Project

Since November 9th, 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been keeping track of the tremendous increase in hate crimes in the United States. This news, combined with increasing threats to education, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, attacks on healthcare and more, has left the librarians at TLT worrying about the teens that we have committed ourselves to serving, both now and in the future. So we have decided to respond in the only way we know how – through books and information.

Beginning in 2014, we began our campaign on sexual violence (#SVYALit). In 2015, we focused on faith and spirituality (#FSYALit). This year, we focused on mental health (#MHYALit). All those campaigns will continue.

In 2017, we will focus on social justice. #SJYALit. We want to talk about poverty, racism, sexism and all the other issues which have been more fully brought to the surface in this election. This year, we are working to more fully understand the issues and will share our journey with our readership. It is our hope that we can equip those who work with teens with background and information sources that will grow their understanding of and compassion for our teens. Together, we can teach teens to be knowledgeable, compassionate members of society who understand their value.

Social justice is defined as “… promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity.” It exists when “all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources.” In conditions of social justice, people are “not be discriminated against, nor their welfare and well-being constrained or prejudiced on the basis of gender, sexuality, religion, political affiliations, age, race, belief, disability, location, social class, socioeconomic circumstances, or other characteristic of background or group membership” (Toowoomba Catholic Education, 2006). (Robinson, https://gjs.appstate.edu/social-justice-and-human-rights/what-social-justice)

My daughter is 14. She will be voting in the next presidential election. So will all of her friends. So will many of your children. So will the teens I work with every day here in my library.

Please help us. Those of us at TLT are all white women. We know there are many issues that we cannot speak to. But not all of us are straight, not all of us are Christians, and many of us struggle with mental health issues. And all of us love many people who don’t love, think, or believe like us. We care and we need your help.

So here’s what we’re going to do and we are asking for your help. Next year, we will read books, recommend books, and talk about books that focus on social justice issues. We will compile lists. We will compile resources. We will raise awareness and do our best to listen and grow and ask others to listen and grow with us.

The topics we will be covering include:

Civil Rights

Disabilities

Dystopian (A look at the role of government)

Education

Environmental Rights and Protection

Feminist YA

GLBTQ Issues and Representation

Healthcare

Homelessness

Immigration

Incarceration

Labor (Jobs, Employment, Wages, etc.)

Mental Health

Own Voices/Representation

Politics (Government, Voter’s Rights)

Poverty & Income Inequality

Religious Freedom (Faith and Spirituality)

Reproductive Freedom and Education

Sexual Violence

Social Justice 101

Teen Activism

Each member of TLT will be responsible for coordinating posts on various topics. It will look something like this:

In addition, we will be asking you to join us for a monthly book club read and online Twitter chat. We will kick off January with All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. More information will be coming soon.

This is fabulous – it coincides perfectly with a new book club I’m starting with one of our Upper School English teachers where we will focus on “controversial” topics that don’t get talked about in the classroom; coincidentally, our first book will mostly likely be All American Boys. I’ll definitely check here for recs and reviews!

Thank you for doing this. It is certainly needed. In addition to dystopian lit, I suggest that you also include historical and international literature because others have faced what we’re about to face and we can learn from them. There are a lot of stories of survival, standing up for what is right, and hope — true stories and fiction based on true stories.

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Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s creator and owner (Karen Jensen, MLS) is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the post author and Teen Librarian Toolbox with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. RA Posters may be freely used. All thoughts and opinions expressed belong to the individuals that wrote them and do not reflect the views of any outside affiliations including the libraries that we work at, the professional journals that we work with, or VOYA magazine, etc. Thoughts and opinions of guest posters do not represent those of TLT. A 2014 Library Journal Movers and Shaker: Advocates

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About TLT

Teen Librarian Toolbox (TLT) is a professional development website for teen librarians, created by Karen Jensen and collecting the experience of four MLS librarians and over 50 collective years of library work. Our mission is to to help libraries serving teens (and anyone who cares about teens) and to foster a community of professional development and resource sharing by providing quality information, discussions, book reviews and more. We welcome guest posts and our book review policy can be found here. We are available for presentations, seminars, and consulting on a limited basis. Contact us for more information.